Immigration at the Border
DHS Begins Raids and Deportations of Central American Mothers and Children
This past weekend, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) conducted immigration raids, primarily in Georgia, Texas and North Carolina where, according to DHS, they rounded up 121 individuals, mostly women and children. DHS now is transporting the families to Texas to process them for deportation. The raids were anticipated,… Read More
Understanding DHS’ 2015 Deportation Numbers
This week, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released its fiscal year (FY) 2015 deportation numbers. According to DHS, immigration enforcement agencies apprehended 406,595 individuals nationwide and conducted a total of 462,463 removals and returns. These totals include both people deported at the border and those removed from the interior of the United States. However, in order to understand what these numbers actually mean and if they reflect DHS’s new enforcement priorities, a closer look at enforcement actions by Border Patrol versus Immigration and Customs Enforcement is necessary. Read More
Central American Violence Pushes More Children North in Search of Protection
Earlier this month, Customs and Border Protection released statistics showing an increase in the number of unaccompanied children arriving at the southwest border in October and November 2015. In those two months alone, over 10,000 unaccompanied children arrived, a 106 percent increase from the same time the prior year. Read More
Lengthy Detention and Deplorable Conditions the Norm in CBP Detention Centers
Each year, the Border Patrol—a division of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)—holds hundreds of thousands of individuals in detention facilities near the U.S. southern border. These facilities are meant to hold individuals for a short time while they undergo initial processing and a decision is made about where they… Read More
Operation Streamline: Ten Years of Criminalizing Immigrants
For the last 10 years, in federal courts across the Southwest border, the federal government has systematically prosecuted unlawful border crossers in group hearings with little-to-no due process. These prosecutions, often referred to as Operation Streamline, were intended to deter illegal entry and reentry. Instead, they have clogged up the… Read More
Giving the Immigration Facts a Fighting Chance
As we move through the 2016 presidential election cycle, the issue of immigration will continue to be a central topic of the debate. The United States is at a tipping point after more than two decades without meaningful upgrades to its immigration system. Current U.S. law does not provide sufficient… Read More
Corruption Flourishes Within CBP
In 2002, in the wake of 9/11, Congress and the White House embarked upon an unprecedented bureaucratic experiment: grafting together 22 federal agencies into a single entity that was supposed to protect the nation from terrorist attack or any other potential threat. The result was a multi-headed monstrosity known as… Read More
Will the Immigration Court Backlog Finally Go Down?
Although our nation’s immigration courts currently have record backlogs, there may be some help on the way. That was the message from Juan Osuna, Director of the Executive Office of Immigration Review (EOIR)—a division within the Department of Justice (DOJ) department which houses the immigration courts—at an oversight hearing… Read More
Due Process, Enforcement Reform and Family Unification Top Sanders’ Platform
Senator Bernie Sanders, a contender for the Democratic nomination for President, recently released his updated and vastly expanded immigration platform. His initial plan was short on detail; however, this newly-released document takes a deeper dive and presents a set of solutions to some of the worst problems plaguing our outdated immigration system. Read More
Transfers of Detained Families Traumatizes Mothers and Children and Interferes with Access to Lawyers
The government recently began transferring families who have been held in Texas to the Berks County Family Residential Facility in Pennsylvania. Not only have these sudden transfers traumatized many mothers and children, but they are interfering with the families’ access to their lawyers and are jeopardizing their right to a… Read More
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